Monday, January 17, 2011

The battle to secure the services of Manatee High’s standout brother duo is turning into a three team race that appears to have Miami and USF at the forefront with Temple trying to make its presence felt.

Their target is defensive lineman Quinton Pompey and his brother Chris Pompey, who played defensive end for Manatee, but could switch to linebacker in college.

New Miami head coach Al Golden made a verbal offer to the brothers last week and USF’s Skip Holtz has also extended one. Steve Addazio, the new head at Temple, is familiar with the Pompeys from his days as an assistant at Florida and has also thrown his hat in the ring

Manatee High defensive line coach Steve Gulash is good friend with USF defensive line coach Kevin Patrick, which might give the Bulls the lead. Patrick was an All-American defensive end at Miami in 1993 and played a role in helping to mold former USF defensive linemen George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul, who are currently in the NFL.

Despite missing nearly four games due to a knee injury, the 6-6, 260 pound Quinton Pompey was a force on the defensive line finishing with 14 sacks. Chris Pompey had 12 sacks for Manatee and had 59 solo tackles.

A few months ago the 6-3, 200 pound Chris wasn’t being recruited by the bigger schools, but that changed recently and he enhanced his chances by winning the MVP Award at last week’s PAL Bowl.

Chris’ biggest offers were from Colorado State and FIU before USF, Miami and Temple jumped into the fight. At first some of the bigger schools were willing to offer him if that would improve their chances of getting Quinton, but now he is being sought on his own merits.

Quinton also has offers from Penn State, Missouri and Louisville and expects a lot more if he clears some academic requirements before signing day, which he hopes to do before the end of the month.